Suffolk Poor Law Unions

An Act of Parliament in the year 1834 took the responsibility of administering to the poor from the local parish church to the doorstep of civil government. The government grouped each civil parish into a union of parishes. There were nearly 600 such unions throughout England, each one comprising close to 20 or more parishes, and were specifically setup to meet the demands of the poor among their local populations, with a workhouse on the premises. The responsbility was transferred from local parishes to a Board of Guardians in each union. These groupings or unions were known as poor-law unions. Suffolk had the following poorlaw unions within its boundaries:

The Records

Records from the poorlaw unions, which were created from this time forward include the following:

Guardianship

Creed Registers

Rate books

Workhouse Lists of Inmates

Register of Apprentices

Register of Births

Register of Deaths

Vestry Rate Books

Admission and Discharge Registers

Board of Guardians' Records

History of Poor Law in Suffolk

Many laborers relied on poor relief or rates at some time in their life.[1]

Records at The Family History Library

To determine records availability for each poorlaw, search the FamilySearch Catalog under the name of the county (Suffolk), and then under the name of the poorlaw union, i.e. Bury St Edmund; then search under the term[s] "poorlaw" or "poorhouses".